Pace of Investment, Job Creation Now Hinges on Adoption Of National Renewable Electricity Standard (RES)

Washington, D.C. – The wind energy industry installed over 2,800 megawatts (MW) of new generating capacity in the first quarter of 2009, with new projects completed in 15 states and powering the equivalent of 816,000 homes, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) announced today in its first quarter market report.

The report was released in advance of the annual Windpower conference that kicks off in Chicago on May 4. Last year, the event took place at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center.

“But the nation still lacks the long-term signal that is needed to build up renewable energy on large scale. The time is now for a national renewable electricity standard (RES), a policy that over 80% of Americans favor and for which they voted: President Obama’s campaign position of generating 25% of our electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025 will help revitalize our economy and protect consumers when they need it the most: when the price of the fuels used for electricity generation goes up.”

The new wind power projects add up to 2,836 MW, according to initial AWEA estimates. The total wind power generating capacity in operation in the U.S. is now 28,206 MW, enough to serve over 8 million homes and avoid the emissions of 52 million tons of carbon dioxide annually—the equivalent of removing 8.8 million cars from the road.

In state news, Kansas and New York now have over 1,000 MW of wind power generating capacity – boosting the wind power “gigawatt” state club to nine:

In Texas, the portion of the large Roscoe project was completed, bringing the project up to 584.5 MW. The next 197-MW section of the project is slated to be completed soon, which will take it to the top of the list of the nation’s largest operating wind power projects.

Indiana keeps its title as fastest growing state with the large 400.3-MW project that was brought online. States tallying the most rapid growth in wind capacity in the first quarter include:

Washington– Wind energy leaders in several categories maintained their #1 positions even as other leaders emerged in new categories, while 24 states saw new wind turbine and component manufacturing facilities opened, expanded or announced in 2008, according to the annual wind energy industry rankings report released today by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

The new listings, based on 2008 year-end numbers, show Texas leading in wind capacity and largest wind farms installed, Minnesota and Iowa both generating over 7% of their electricity from wind, and Indiana as the state with the fastest growth in wind on a percentage basis.

In company rankings, NextEra Energy Resources (formerly FPL Energy) continues to lead in wind farm ownership; GE Energy remained the wind turbine maker with the largest amount of new capacity installed, and Xcel Energy again leads investor-owned utilities in wind power. Wind power’s recent growth has also accelerated investment in manufacturing: wind turbine and turbine component manufacturers announced, added or expanded more than 55 facilities in 2008 alone, spanning 24 states from Alabama to Wisconsin.

"The wind energy industry today generates not only clean energy for our economy, but also hope and opportunity for American workers and businesses,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. “Whether it is building or maintaining a wind project, or producing wind turbine components, you’ll find people employed in wind power in nearly all 50 states today,” Bode said.

“But we cannot rest on past achievements. We need the right policies in place for our industry to maintain its momentum. A national Renewable Electricity Standard, requiring utilities to generate 25 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025, is vital to provide the long-term, U.S.-wide commitment businesses need to invest tens of billions of dollars in clean energy installations and manufacturing facilities, and create hundreds of thousands of American jobs,” Bode said.

* Oregon moved into the 1,000-MW club, which now counts seven states, including Texas, Iowa, California, Minnesota, Washington and Colorado. * Indiana ranked as the state with the fastest growth rate, expanding installations from zero to 131 MW, followed by Michigan (48%), Utah (21%), New Hampshire (17%) and Wisconsin (6%). * Two states – Minnesota and Iowa – now get over 7% of their electricity needs from wind. Minnesota ranks first in this list (7.48%), followed closely by Iowa (7.1%). The rest of the top five are Colorado, North Dakota, and New Mexico.

* Approximately 85,000 people are employed in the wind industry today—a 70% increase from 50,000 a year ago—and hold jobs in areas as varied as turbine component manufacturing, construction and installation of wind turbines, wind turbine operations and maintenance, legal and marketing services, and more.

* NextEra Energy Resources remains atop the list of project owners, with 6,290 MW of wind power assets, roughly 25% of the total installed in the U.S. The three companies that make up the next 25% are Iberdrola Renewables, MidAmerican Energy (including PacifiCorp), and Horizon-Energia de Portugal.

* GE Energy turbines accounted for 43% of all new capacity installed in the U.S. in 2008. The rest of the top five include Vestas, which accounted for 13%, Siemens and Suzlon at 9% each, and Gamesa at 7%. Several new companies–Acciona, REPower, Fuhrlander, DeWind and AWE–entered the U.S. market in 2008.

* The wind power generating fleet of over 25,300 MW in place as of December 31,2008 will generate an estimated 73 billion kWh in 2009, enough to serve the equivalent of close to 7 million average U.S. homes.

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Wind power convention shifts to Chicago

When the American Wind Energy Assn. meets at McCormick Place from May 4-7, it expects more than 18,000 attendees and 1,200 exhibitors — both groups 20% bigger than projected and almost 50% above last year’s show in Houston, which was 85% bigger than the association’s 2007 show.

The four-day show was expected to generate a $33.3-million economic impact on hotels, restaurants and the city in general at the original attendance estimate of 14,000, according to a spokeswoman for the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau; no updated figures were available.

“This is one of the fastest growing conferences in the country,” said Denise Bode, CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based industry group, in an interview. “Every leading manufacturer in the world will be there.”

AWEA last year decided to move the Windpower 2009 show, originally set for Minneapolis, to Chicago after its attendance projections ballooned. The convention also exceeded its goal of 1,000 exhibitors, up from 700 last year.

The last time the AWEA held its convention in Chicago, in 2004, it drew about 3,000 attendees.

About 80 Illinois firms will be exhibiting at this year’s show, Ms. Bode said. The typical wind turbine has 8,000 components, such as gears and fasteners, and “Illinois is right in the middle of the manufacturing boom because they have this expertise.”

Illinois currently ranks eighth in the nation in wind energy production, she added, with about 915 megawatts of capacity, or enough to power more than 200,000 homes.

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Acciona Energy

Acciona Energy is a world leader in the renewable energy sector. The company’s mission is to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of a sustainable energy model. The company invests in the development and management of sustainable infrastructures, services and renewable energies, including small hydro, biomass, solar and thermal energy, and the marketing of biofuels. It also has assets in the field of co-generation and wind turbine manufacture. It is currently carrying out research projects to produce hydrogen from wind power and to manufacture more efficient photovoltaic cells.

Acciona Energy is a world leader in renewable energies with almost 5,500 MW in service and a strong presence in eight technologies. It has installed almost 5,300 MW of wind power capacity in 192 wind parks in 12 countries, of which 3,824 MW are owned by the company.

In Australia, Acciona Energy has a 66 MW wind farm operational at Cathedral Rocks in South Australia (jointly owned with Roaring 40s). Acciona Energy has approval to build a 50 MW wind farm at Woodlawn, NSW and a 24 MW wind farm at Berrimal, Victoria.

The 192 MW Waubra Wind Farm is the largest of the wind farms that the company has installed across the world.

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Gamesa

Gamesa is a company specializing in sustainable energy technologies, mainly wind power. Gamesa is the market leader in Spain and is positioned among the most important wind generator manufacturers in the world.

Gamesa has installed more than 16,000 MW of its main product lines in 20 countries spread out over four continents. The annual equivalent of this production amounts to more than 3.45 million tons of petroleum (TPE) per year and prevents the emission into the atmosphere of over 24 million tons of CO2 a year.

With a portfolio of more than 21,000 MW of wind power being promoted in Europe, America and Asia and branches in 13 countries, Gamesa is well positioned as one of the world’s most important companies in the promotion and development of wind farms.

Portland, Ore. — Iberdrola Renewables, Inc. announced it has signed a contract with Missouri River Energy Services (MRES) to purchase wind energy from Iberdrola Renewables’ Rugby Wind Project, now under construction near Rugby, North Dakota.

MRES is the first utility to contract for output from the project and the first to purchase power under Iberdrola Renewables’ unique reverse request for proposal. In all, the Rugby Wind Project will include 71 turbines capable of producing 149 megawatts of power when the project is completed this winter. The MRES share could produce enough electricity to power almost 11,000 homes.

Transmission service is in place, according to the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator.

"North Dakota has the greatest potential of any state in the nation for wind power, and every wind turbine that goes up helps our state’s economy. I applaud both Iberdrola Renewables and Missouri River Energy Services for their partnership and for their efforts to generate electricity from clean, renewable prairie wind," said U.S. Senator Kent Conrad.

"North Dakota is the Saudi Arabia of wind," U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan said. "We have the ability to provide a significant amount of wind energy to the nation, and this agreement shows that our efforts to develop our wind industry have only begun. I’m going to keep pushing for policies in Congress that help us develop our wind resource for the benefit of the whole country."

U.S. Representative Earl Pomeroy said, "I am very pleased by today’s announcement that Missouri River Energy Services has agreed to purchase wind energy from Iberdrola Renewables’ Rugby Wind Project. North Dakota has the greatest potential for wind energy in the country and this project brings us a step closer to fully realizing that potential."

"There are a number of reasons why we chose to participate in the Rugby Wind Project," said MRES Marketing and Development Director Jeff Peters. "For one, this project fits very well with our strategy of investing in renewable energy and it is appealing because of the available transmission. Also, it helps us comply with renewable energy requirements in each of the four states in which MRES has members. Finally, we have great confidence in the developer, Iberdrola Renewables, which is the largest provider of wind energy projects in the world."

"We are pleased to work with MRES to provide clean, homegrown energy to their customers," said Kevin Helmich, director of origination for Iberdrola Renewables. "When we build in areas with great wind resources and partner with committed, long-term customers like MRES, we together meet the need for more renewable energy."

The addition of the 40 megawatts from the Rugby project will bring the total wind power capacity of MRES to 82.4 megawatts, almost all of which has been added to the MRES generation portfolio in the past two years.

MRES, based in Sioux Falls, is an organization of 60 member communities in the states of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. MRES member communities own and operate local electric distribution systems. MRES is a provider of electric power and energy to its members.

Iberdrola Renewables is the largest provider of wind power in the world. Its North American headquarters are located in Portland, Oregon and the company employs 817 people in the US and Canada.